Preparing for Coronavirus?

[downer]

The Harvard epidemiologist I follow on twitter posted this, commenting it was very worrisome.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3078840/coronavirus-low-antibody-levels-raise-questions-about
It is a preliminary report though, so no need to panic.

Was it Eric Feigl-Ding? He's not an infectious disease epidemiologist. My very strong impression is that he is somebody who has really latched on to this to get attention. He's posted a number of things that have been widely debunked. This seems like no exception

https://twitter.com/florian_krammer/status/1248043917939036162

Thanks. Good to know.  (Yes, it was.)

[Caracal]

The Harvard epidemiologist I follow on twitter posted this, commenting it was very worrisome.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3078840/coronavirus-low-antibody-levels-raise-questions-about
It is a preliminary report though, so no need to panic.

Was it Eric Feigl-Ding? He's not an infectious disease epidemiologist. My very strong impression is that he is somebody who has really latched on to this to get attention. He's posted a number of things that have been widely debunked. This seems like no exception

https://twitter.com/florian_krammer/status/1248043917939036162

Thanks. Good to know.  (Yes, it was.)

It does make it hard to get reliable information. Most of us know people in our own field who are good at getting attention, might have done good work in one area, but often cast themselves as experts on things outside of their area, and make basic and fundamental mistakes.

[EquineUlcers]

As always, there is a huge amount of misinformation around.

[AmLitHist]

We just got an email late yesterday:  all summer instruction is officially shifted to non-campus.  People can move their scheduled F2F classes to an online format (asynchronous), OR "virtual lecture" (synchronous scheduled real-time lectures).  Classes already scheduled as online (which is all I teach in summer) remain unchanged.

[downer]

I got an email from admin about planning for summer courses to hybrid.

At least I admire the optimism, even if that strikes me as... wildly optimistic.

[Cheerful]

I got an email from admin about planning for summer courses to hybrid.

At least I admire the optimism, even if that strikes me as... wildly optimistic.

Also wildly inefficient.  Preparing for hybrid is different from preparing for fully online.  Fully online for summer at most institutions seems almost certain.

[clean]

Maymester and Summer I were declared online only several weeks ago.  The decision for Summer II (starting after July 4), will be made on or before May 15.  Im not sure when they will be deciding about the Fall term. I am sure that they will delay the decision as long as possible.  I wonder if they will even decide if they can make the decision in weekly or monthly increments... Say Online August and September, back in class on Oct. 1 or whatever.  IF they are not able to be face to face by Nov 1, then I hope that we just finish the term online, given the issues of Thanksgiving and such.

BUT, We are officially online through July 4 and wont decide the July to August 15 window until May 15. 

[marshwiggle]

Maymester and Summer I were declared online only several weeks ago.  The decision for Summer II (starting after July 4), will be made on or before May 15.  Im not sure when they will be deciding about the Fall term. I am sure that they will delay the decision as long as possible. I wonder if they will even decide if they can make the decision in weekly or monthly increments... Say Online August and September, back in class on Oct. 1 or whatever. 

Only if they hate lab instructors with a burning white-hot passion. THESE THINGS CAN'T BE CHANGED ON THE FLY!!!! 
(Not necessarily for you; for those who might consider such an idea sane.)

[Anselm]

Well, at least some of you are getting some heads up about summer.  My school seems to be in some serious denial about this.  One colleague thinks all will go back to normal in the summer which for us begins right after Memorial Day.  The same guy told me 2 weeks ago that we should be able to have a normal graduation.  The last official CV19 related update is dated March 31st.  Not only faculty need to make plans but the students also have to know if they need to move back into town or be ready to commute versus staying at home and doing everything online. 

[namazu]

The uni here is all-online for the summer term.

Not sure whether contingency plans are being put in place for fall (yet).

[pgher]

Apologies if this has been discussed: Boston U. Plans for Possibility of Delayed Fall Term. I hope other institutions are making similar contingency plans, even if not publicly.

I mentioned on another thread wondering what to do with my two kids. One will be a freshman this fall--at least, I hope so! But I'm working on contingency plans for both kids.

[hmaria1609]

Today, Gov. Hogan issued an exec. order that Marylanders must wear masks or face coverings in stores and on public transportation:
https://wtop.com/coronavirus/2020/04/coronavirus-updates-dc-maryland-virginia-april-15/
A few counties had required masks before the Governor's order.

[spork]

It looks to me like the hyper-efficient complex system is holding up really well. It wouldn't make sense to have thousands of ICU beds year-round for a once in a century pandemic, when we seem to be able to bring up capacity rather quickly, for example. Yes, everyone is overtaxed, but that's not inherently a problem in a crisis: we're not expecting this to go on for months. Temporarily having a low stock of toilet paper or having to buy conventional instead of organic milk doesn't seem like a huge burden in the middle of a global pandemic.

I would agree with you if the food system in the USA wasn't based on taxpayer subsidies and externalities like CO2 production and water contamination.

Meanwhile, let's plow that food under! https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/business/coronavirus-destroying-food.html

I think our hyper-efficient complex food system is actually too fragile to cope with this kind of disruption. It relies on subsidies, exploitative labor conditions, and environmentally unsustainable practices. On Sunday the country lost 5 percent of its pig meat production capacity when a single plant closed -- the current epicenter for Covid-19 in South Dakota: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/15/us/coronavirus-south-dakota-meat-plant-refugees.html.

My plan is to stock up on canned and frozen vegetables for the fall, when the second wave of infection hits.

[AmLitHist]

Something I've been thinking of, and a situation that probably affects a fair number of us here:

Say we do go back to F2F in the fall*, and there is a second/subsequent wave of the virus.  I already have an ADA accommodation limiting me to 2 days on campus (orthopedic issues), but I also have other issues that put me in the "vulnerable" category (age, diabetes, and ongoing blood abnormalities).  Between our foot-dragging Admin and "Golly, I don't want to tell anybody what to do" governor, I don't relish the idea of exposing myself to a second round of germs until we'd get officially shut down again.

I'm wondering if ADA would apply in this situation (and, while my doctor would happily order me to self-isolate for the duration, my HR department is a @&*%show--it took 3 months to get my original no-brainer accommodation, so I dread the though of having to go through that all again). My school absolutely refuses to consider fully online teaching for any faculty; otherwise, I'd be all over it already. I don't want to just take sick leave or disability, when there's no real reason for it:  I can teach just fine, if I don't have to come to campus and get exposed to the virus, if it comes to that.

-----
*I'm being optimistic/naive/crazy here, I know. There are strong rumblings of another, emergency RIF coming, and/or ongoing rumors that my campus may get shut down, based on ongoing poor enrollment and on state budget cuts related to the virus.

[Caracal]

Something I've been thinking of, and a situation that probably affects a fair number of us here:

Say we do go back to F2F in the fall*, and there is a second/subsequent wave of the virus.  I already have an ADA accommodation limiting me to 2 days on campus (orthopedic issues), but I also have other issues that put me in the "vulnerable" category (age, diabetes, and ongoing blood abnormalities).  Between our foot-dragging Admin and "Golly, I don't want to tell anybody what to do" governor, I don't relish the idea of exposing myself to a second round of germs until we'd get officially shut down again.

I'm wondering if ADA would apply in this situation (and, while my doctor would happily order me to self-isolate for the duration, my HR department is a @&*%show--it took 3 months to get my original no-brainer accommodation, so I dread the though of having to go through that all again). My school absolutely refuses to consider fully online teaching for any faculty; otherwise, I'd be all over it already. I don't want to just take sick leave or disability, when there's no real reason for it:  I can teach just fine, if I don't have to come to campus and get exposed to the virus, if it comes to that.

-----
*I'm being optimistic/naive/crazy here, I know. There are strong rumblings of another, emergency RIF coming, and/or ongoing rumors that my campus may get shut down, based on ongoing poor enrollment and on state budget cuts related to the virus.

With the caveat that it way too early to know what is going to happen, it seems possible that like other things schools might not be fully open or fully shut in the fall. One possibility could be lots of online classes to cut down on crowded classrooms and provide options for faculty and students at increased risk.